Thursday, 22 August 2013

I've watched 12 episodes of Dexter in 2 days. That's 12 hours! And that's not even all I've watched! The problem with Netflix is that it just plays the next episode without you even having to ask it, its like they never ever want me to leave them.

Buuuutt while it's true that I have spent hours and hours sitting on my arse, I have actually been doing lots of creative things for the business. I made millions of Fimo beads...

Since my dolly mixture bracelets seem to sell so well I thought it'd probably be a good idea to make some more kitsch jewellery ("Smell what sells"- Lord Sugar). So, the bows and roses got transformed into these...

In other news: I took a trip to the mysterious wholesaler which is a magical place, despite not quite measuring up to the grandiose image I'd gradually built up in my head of it. I bought all sorts of metallicy things: jump rings, studs and backs, hair grips, plastic bags and more- all by the million. So I'm planning on expanding my stock selection considerably!
I also now have Fauves business cards in a little handmade box. Next time however I think I won't handwrite my details onto each individual card, I got a very achey hand, in the future I'll employ my printing skills instead.

owowowow

I've been getting a bit more into Pinterest (I've even added 'pin-it' buttons to my blog images! Snazzy). But I'd love to hear from you more seasoned Pinterest users! Tell me about your pinning strategy: where do you find great images to pin (outside Pinterest)? How do you categorise your boards? Why do you find Pinterest useful?

Sunday, 18 August 2013

I've been out and about a bit recently, and one the places I've been is the V&A in London (for the squillionth time...I like it there).

But even though I have been there exactly a squillion times I'm pretty sure I haven't seen nearly all that they have on show there. I'll always take a trip to the jewellery room though, that's a given.

Another of my favourite things to see there are the portrait miniatures, really I'm almost mesmerised by anything in miniature but collections of tiny gold or jewel encrusted frames can tend to make me let out my (very girly) inner girl and squeal a bit. I think maybe I'd like to do something with miniature frames...not to be too vague or anything....something crafty. I'll let you know if this happens.

My boyfriend (afraid I can't take the credit for this one) actually came up with a great idea for how I could display my jewellery. Going along with the 'wild beasts' I've been drawing for the Fauves marketing I could draw some animals which could then be backed on card and stood up to hang my jewellery off of. For instance perhaps a giraffe with a super long neck which the bracelets could hang from. I'll work on this in the next few days, and again, let you know how it turns out.

But less of what I mean to do! I've actively achieved making some new products of late. I now have dolly mixture necklaces, rose bracelets and a few more pairs of earrings to add to my stock. Here, have a look!

Thursday, 8 August 2013

Maybe it'd be a good thing to catch you up with where I currently am with my business venture...

You wouldn't do that to me would you shuggz?

I'd say that Fauves has been really up and running since...well...(after several minutes scrutinising my calendar)....it's quite hard to put a finger on actually. I started watching some beading tutorials and getting interested in beading around January of this year (between the space of then and now my gift giving has become really quite predictable). I became a bit fixated and began spending a bit much time in the haberdashery section of John Lewis, sitting cross legged in front of the beads in a state of inner turmoil over how many colours I could currently afford.

I was sat in room in my student house surrounded by more earrings and bracelets than I could possible wear myself and it occurred to me that I might be able to make some money out of this. My first (and to date only) craft market was on the 6th of July at a school fete in london. The stall was shared between myself and two other lovely ladies and I was pretty chuffed with the 85 quid I'd earned by the end of the day. I was a bit disappointed that I only managed to sell 1 pair of earrings but my dolly mixture bracelets sold like hot cakes!

Since then I've set up a shop on folksy (which since it's creation roughly a month ago one item has been sold...still, I remain hopeful) and a Facebook page, Twitter account and Pinterest page (and although Pinterest still vexes me a little I'm starting to get to grips with it). And excitingly I've got two real life shops stocking my wares ('Raindrops on Roses' and 'Sanuk')! I've made little sales here and there but I suppose at the moment I'm still trying to make my business as accessible as I can! If you're reading this and can think of anything else you think I should be doing I'd really love to hear from you- just drop me a comment :)

Monday, 5 August 2013

Hi! I'm Kat. Can you actually believe it, I've got a blog!

What even is that? You decide

I'm fresh out of university with a degree in Design for Film & TV from Nottingham Trent (and if you're interested in seeing a little bit of my work then have a click here), and it's a weird time when you're finally let loose into the big wide world- I'm not really sure what to do with myself. So, in the meantime I've set myself a little project. I'm starting a Business (although calling it that does seem a tad grandiose)! I'm always making things and I think it'd be pretty cool if I could make some cash doing what I love doing anyway!

So, I thought a blog might be really useful for tracking my steps, keeping a record of whats working and what isn't, seeing where I get and how long it takes etc. etc. etc....It's all one big experiment really.

It was a pleasure to have you read my very first post, do pop back again soon! In the meantime I'm off for a brew xx